DRAGON BALL CREATOR DIES
Artist of famous manga, 68, died of blood clot in the brain on March 1
THE creator of Japan’s hugely popular and influential “Dragon Ball” comics and anime cartoons, Akira Toriyama, has died aged 68, his production team said yesterday.
First serialised in 1984, Dragon Ball is one of the best-selling manga franchises of all time and has spawned countless anime series, films and video games.
Toriyama died on March 1 because of a blood clot in the brain, a statement posted to the official Dragon Ball account on X said.
“It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation,” said the statement attributed to Toriyama’s Bird Studio, which praised the artist’s “great enthusiasm”.
“He would have many more things to achieve. However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world,” the statement added.
“We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”
“Dragon Ball” features a boy named Son Goku who collects magical balls containing dragons to help him and his allies in a
fight to protect the Earth from evil enemies.
Toriyama was already famous for his comedy manga Dr Slump in the early 1980s when he created Dragon Ball, which he said was inspired by Chinese-style kung fu movies.
Born in Japan’s central Aichi region in 1955, Toriyama studied design at an industrial high school, according to Animage Plus, part of the anime magazine Animage.
He worked for three years at an advertising agency in the city of Nagoya before making his debut as a professional manga artist in his early 20s.
In an interview with Japan’s
Asahi newspaper in 2013, Toriyama described himself as a “difficult” person.
“Dragon Ball is like a miracle, given how it helped someone like me who has a twisted, difficult personality do a decent job and get accepted by society,” he said.
He told the newspaper he had “no idea” why Dragon Ball had become such a huge hit, saying his comics were “dedicated to entertainment”.